Travels of Jim and Cathy Green

2007-02-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

We may not be traveling on the highways as much, but our reading continues. Everything from decoding DaVinci's secrets to searching for eternal truth and enlightenment. Our book list, which includes some reviews and comments, is now online. Some books we have recently obtained, and are just getting to. (Or recovering from the boxes in which they spent a couple of years...) We would be glad to discuss the books, the authors, the general concepts...wherever it leads...and are always open to recommendations to add to our list...

2006-09-16T16:01:00.000-06:00

OK, so we're not traveling any longer. (Well,not permanately...)

So now we can enjoy the Montana weather, such as snow in September...

check this out...

FW: New E-mail and Phone Number

2006-09-05T08:23:00.000-06:00

Well, most of you know by now that we have bought a house in Missoula, MT, and will settle down for a while.

So things are bound to change, including our new mailing address, our phone, and most especially, our E-mail.

our new E-mail is jimandcathygreen@gmail.com

a backup e-mail is jimandcathygreen@escapees.com

if you have a SPAM filter set up, please tell it about the new address! (That's why I am using the OLD address to announce the change!) The new address is included in the address line as a "CC" address...

these should be good even if we change internet providers again...

phone is now (406) 549-3212. We will be discontinuing our cell phone by the end of September. And, now there are no "Minute Limits". So you dont have to wait until the weekend to call...

and our new mailing address is

265 N Easy Street

Missoula, MT 59802

If you already have all this information, we appoligize for filling your inbox with repeat data, but we wanted to make sure everyone got the word!

Jim and Cathy

http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

jimandcathygreen@gmail.com

2006-09-02T18:17:00.000-06:00

OK, here are some more pictures of the house we have moved into...and we are both loving it!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jimandcathygreen/EasyStreet

on the road again...

2006-08-11T20:33:00.000-06:00

Well, we are on our way back to Montanna. Got the truck loaded (Only one truck, no trailer required thank goodness.) Glad to be on our way fianally...Looking forward to getting to Missoula and getting settled. Made it all the way to Provo today, after a short stop in Shiprock to visit the womens shelter...Been a nice day overall, overcast a lot and some rain, but no major weather issues. Looks like tomorrow will be sunnier...

There were no suprises when loading the truck, either not finding something or finding something we thought we had sold aready. Remains to be see what we actually have left when we get it all unpacked! We will have to retrieve the Motor Home from up at Flathead lake pretty soon, however, because our Good Mattress and all our good cookware is in it! It'll be thin in the sleeping and eating department till we get those back!

Jim and Cathy

http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

2006-06-17T12:11:00.000-06:00

Screeeeeeeeeee...ch!

That sound you hear may be us Stopping for a while....

We had been talking about getting serious about finding a place to alight. (or, as we tell folks, a "Place to be FROM")

Cathy likes to do some serious cooking occasionally, (and I like to eat, all the time) and the kitchen in the motor home has become more and more limiting. So we decided to take a serious look at some of our prospects.

When we left Yellowstone, we drove up to Bozeman, and were going to spend a couple of days there, but it was too much like the high desert we had left. So we kept going on to Butte, Montana. It, too, was a bit too arid, so after a visit to the Tourist Information kiosk at the Chamber of Commerce, and an overnight in a windy RV park, we went on to Missoula.

The closer we got to Missoula, the more grass and less sage dominated the hills. Then, of course, there were the mountains. We both felt very comfortable there, so we decided to spend some time looking the area and the real estate market over.

It turns out that Missoula has everything we have liked about the places on our short list to consider. (Well, everything but a large body of water. But the Clark Fork River runs right through it...and the Flat Head lake an hour away). The list of things that we liked include

it's a college town. University of Montana, and a Technical College.
Climate. It is in a valley, which forms a micro climate area, not as cold as the plains areas of Montana.
Shopping. More specificity, a real complete market which specializes in fresh and organic foods. In Missoula it is call the Good Food Market.
Outdoor Diversions. If you fish, this is supposed to be a great place! And lots of trail heads in town, near town, and within an hour of downtown!
Railfan opportunity. The Montana Rail link is headquartered there, and the BNSF runs through as a relief route on the TransCon.
Revitalized downtown, including a farmers market, Wednesday lunch outdoors at the river, and other cultural events
an active green-ways program, including walking paths along both sides of the river in the downtown, and bike-paths through out the town
Airport, with major hub city access (Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake, Denver). Plus, a Civil Air Patrol squadron.

At this point, the only major item missing from our list is a good Mexican Food restaurant. But we have high hopes!

So, after a lot of driving around we found a house that meets our needs. With any luck, we will be moving our stuff up from New Mexico sometime in late August. And, oh, yeah, we will be able to keep the motorhome at the house, just in case we want to get away quickly for a week or so..._

There is a link to a couple of pictures of the house on the previous posting...the house is simple, but the view is breath taking! The link for a google map is not exactly pointing to the house, but it's pretty close. If you're coming to visit us, we'll give you more precise directions.

Pictures of the House

2006-06-17T09:24:00.000-06:00

Ground level pictures of the house:

http://home.earthlink.net/~thegeekandhippie/thehousewearebuying/

Google map to the house:

http://news.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=265+N+Easy+St,+Missoula,+MT+59802&ie=UTF8&ll=46.865267,-113.946419&spn=0.006631,0.021458&t=h&om=1

Jim and Cathy

Warning signs in Life...

2006-06-02T21:07:00.001-06:00

I wish LIFE had roadsigns like this....

This one was found recently the road in Yellowstone National Park.

Previous to this, our favorite existential road sign was from Arizona. It said
"High Winds May Exist". Of course, the sign may still say that, but we have no proof...

Jim and Cathy

10 years later, Yellowstone!

2006-05-31T21:07:00.000-06:00

After a 10 year detour, we finally made it to Yellowstone! Entering from the East gate was totally spectactular! Heck, even the Shoshone National Forrest which lead to Yellowstone was pretty fantastic!
Although we just drove through the park today, we saw plenty of Buffalo and Elk. We are really looking forward to spending the next week dallying in the dales...Since everyone has a picture of Old Faithful, I thought I would post one of a hot springs in the valley of fire...some pretty amazing things to be found in Yellowstone!

Jim and Cathy

South Dakota!

2006-05-19T07:38:00.000-06:00

We have worked our way back to Mountain Time, arriving in Rapid City, South Dakota Thursday afternoon via Corn Palace, a Lewis and Clark encampment, and the Badlands scenic highway. We'll be staying in the area until after Memorial day, and plan on seeing Mount Rushmore again (its only been ten years....) and the other attractions in the Black Hills.

Our arrival was a bit unsettling, however. the first thing the camp management did was offer us a job as campground host...Our initial response was that we have made other commitments, and other plans....but Cathy wondered later, perhaps this is the place we should settle down, since it was the first place any one had offerd us a job!

Jim and Cathy

goodby to the Mighty Mississippi...

2006-05-07T15:22:00.000-06:00

Well, we have finally left the Mighty Mississippi, after following it up from New Orleans. OK, we weren't dogmatic about it. We didnt follow the National River Road the entire way, but we certainly got a good feeling for the different areas, from the Mississippi Delta region to the hill country of Wisconson and the Plains of Minnesota. As you can see, Jim showed off by walking across the Mississippi, without benefit of boots, bridge or boat. Not many places you can do that!

Jim and Cathy

Our Lake Itasca Pilgramage

2006-05-03T20:05:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we completed our pilgramage to Lake Itasca. As the photo shows,
we capped our adventure by christening our Itasca motor home with water from the lake, thereby making it official. We had always thought that Itasca was a Native American name, but it turns out that it's a contraction of two latin words meaning Truth (verITAS) and Head (CAbos), because what up until then had been called Elk Lake was the true headwaters of the Mississippi. (Turns out, Mississippi is an approximation of the Objibwa word for long, winding river....so how appropriate is that!)

So, our Durango has been to Durango, Colorado (many times), and now our Itasca has been to Lake Itasca. I guess that means a Saturn is probably not in our future...

I am trying to find a place to post the movie version of the motor home christening, if you would like to see it before then you can E-mail me and I will send it to you when we get a good broad band connection...

Jim and Cathy

spring update...

2006-04-30T11:42:00.000-06:00

We are near Parkers Prairie, Minnesota, visiting some friends we met at the Habitat for Humanity build in Leyland, MS. They live on a farm. Jim has been a bit like a kid in a candy store, got the drive the tractors,(THis one is a CAT, treads and all!) help till for the corn planting, and other fun stuff...'course, they might have finished faster without rather than with my help, but have been good natured about it! They grow mostly corn and Soy Beans. It has been raining here since Thursday, and is expected to keep it up until Tuesday. That's probably when we will move on up to Lake Itasca State Park, which is about 80 miles north of here. I'll try to get a picture of Christening our Itasca with water from Lake Itasca and post it here...

At this time, our plans after that are to visit Grand Forks Air Force base in North Dakota, for a couple of weeks, and then down to Pipe Stone, MN, where stone for many traditional medicine pipes (Peace Pipes) are mined. We will probably then move West to Ellsworth Air Force base in South Dakota for a bit, before continuing on to Yellowstone National Park...we may finally get to Yellowstone! Our druthers would be to get to Yellowstone a little earlier, to avoid the summer rush, but gas prices are keeping our miles per month a bit constrained. That just means we'll have more time for reading and the contemplative life style...the Latest book of significance is Gnostic Philosophy, from Ancient Persia to Modern Times, by Tobias Churton. THAT takes some contemplation...

Jim and Cathy

Minn-A-Soda...

2006-04-26T06:30:00.000-06:00

We have made it to Minnesota, on our way to visit new Habitat for Humanity friends from the Build in Leyland, Mississippi. We just left Wisconson, where we were staying with habitat friends we met in the Lower Keys. They did a great job of showing us the hill country in Wisconson, and even took us and showed us a couple of houses we were interested in...

Right now, we are still making our way to Lake Itasca, where we intend to christen our (Itasca) motorhome with a bucket from the namesake lake at the Headwaters of the mississippi river...Last night we stopped just outside Minneapolis/Saint Paul, which is the end of the maintained navigation channel on 'ole Man River, so I guess we are getting close...Of course, we havent stuck along the river bank the entire way, but we have got a great feel for the towns and lands around the Mighty Mississippi...

We had made up our minds to do Alaska this summer, but that was before gas started toward $4 a gallon....that is out of our league. So we are headed back to Sand Point, Idaho, by way of Yellowstone, to spend more time around that area. We really enjoyed it there last year...and if the gas prices get more reasonable, we will in a place we can go ahead and go north. If you are as dissapointed as we are, feel free to contact us at thegeekandhippie@earthlink.net to learn how to contribute to the cause...

Jim and Cathy

http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

Wisconson Hill Country

2006-04-23T08:03:00.000-06:00

We are currently in the Wisconson Hill Country (Southwest corner of the state), parked in a friends yard, checking out the area. We were out looking at real estate yesterday, and we like the area better than some, but we dont feel this is the place to stop yet. We will be leaving this week and continuing up the river to lake Itasca.

With gas prices headed to upwards of $4 a gallon, we are seriously rethinking our plans for Alaska this summer. That would get too deeply into our reserves, so we will wait a year and see what gas prices do. I heard they should be more reasonable next year, but am not sure why that is supposed to happen. Perhaps we will find a place to hold up for this winter, and save all of our winter gas money for a trip to Alaska next summer...but then again, if it stays that high, just going out for groceries will eat up a big chunch of our gas budget...

Jim and Cathy

http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

Next time you're in Saint Louis...

2006-04-13T20:03:00.000-06:00

You might want to stop by Cohokia Mounds, and check out the "Woodhenge".

The largest mound at the site is called Monks mound, which dates from 1000-1200AD, and is the largest prehistoric earthen construction in the "New World" (unless of course you were already here, then it would be the largest in the "Known World".) The mound is 100 ft high, and covers 14 acres, and is about 1/2 mile from Woodhenge. If you step just left of where the picture was taken, on the Equinoxes, the sun would rise in line with the center pole and the pole with two bands, which places the sun rising at the notch between the highest and second highest part of the mound. The 48 posts are evenly spaced, and two other posts mark the rise of the sun at each solstice.

It is supposedly the largest archeological site (2200 acres) , but i havent compared it with the Chaco Canyon for xize. BUt it is a world heritage site...the last picture is a diorama of the entire site...the woodhenge is to the left of the larger mound, about half way to the edge of the picture...

let me know if you want the original pictures, which are a little better detailed...(1600 x 1200 pixels or so....)

Jim and Cathy
http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

Where we am...

2006-04-09T15:47:00.000-06:00

Thought you might like to see where we are today..That's 'ole man river in the background.

The sign says "Confederate Trench"

The campground is part of a Kentucky state park, at Columbus, Kentucky. The is where The south had hoped to cut off the North from using the Mississippi river. Nice interpretative signs and explanation of the happenings here...beautiful campground...great place to go for a day or so! Just down a bit (20 miles!) from where the Ohio and Mississippi merge...

Jim and Cathy

http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

Kingsport, TN

2006-04-03T06:13:00.000-06:00

After a week in the Tri-Cities area of East Tennessee, we are putting Kingsport on our "Short List" of places to settle. It joins Sand Point/Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and Whidby Island, Washington as prime candidates. The list also includes the Olympic Peninsula and Kailspell, Montanna, as candidates. SInce we are not ready to stop yet, the good news is we dont HAVE to make that decision yet.

We are pretty sure we are going to Alaska this summer, so we are going to work out way to the North, to be ready to head up North in early June. Planned stops include visiting the city of St. Louis, and visits with friends in Wisconson, and Minnesota.

Today or tomorrow we are heading toward St. Louis, by way of southern Kentucky. Some of the students from Washington College (in St. Louis) at the Habitat build filled us in on some "Must See" attractions, so we are looking forward to our visit there!

Jim and Cathy

http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

2006-03-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

Asheville, N.C.
We have been here in Asheville for a week now, and we both like it here, at least in the spring...Turns out, we just had winter this year, it has been wet and snowey for the whole week. Since we missed winter by being in the Keys in Janurary, it's like a full year of seasons in a couple of weeks...

Asheville is a contempory town...(Little City?) with a strong feeling of who they are and where they are going. Very nice and clean Downtown area, and we enjoyed the Urban Trail which helped us get a feel for the town. They have all the amenities we enjoy, including two natural food stores, a Barnes and Nobel Superstore (As well as an excellent bookstore downtown, called Malaprops).

We both feel comfortable here, but don't get your hopes up about visiting for Christmas. We're not ready to quit traveling yet -- after all, we need to get our money's worth from those new tires we just put on the Motor Home. (Have you ever priced a 235/70R19.5 Tire?)

Tomorrow, we move on to the "Tri-Cities" area of Tennessee (Bristol, Johnston City, Kingsport) to check that out. We visited for a short time a couple of years ago, and had a favorable impression. We'll be there for a week or two, evaluating it as a place to stay.

(Shameless Plug follows...)
By the way, if you know someone who needs a medical alert bracelet, try the link on the right...Our daughter Amanda custom makes them, with interchangable bands. Compared to others we have seen, they are very affordable so you can match lots of different outfits, being stylish and still having the important protection a Medical ID bracelet provides...

March 2006 update

2006-03-18T18:27:00.000-07:00

After working for two weeks helping build and learning about building a habitat for Humanity house,in Leyland, MS, the main thing we learned is there is no way we are going to try to build our own home ourselves...it takes more than two people to do the walls and rafters...especially two amateurs who are not into physical labor...

But we enjoyed working with the local affiliate, and the other caravan-ers, as we took one house from slab foundation to erected, roofed with shingles, and most of the siding installed....as well as finishing work on another house, trim, finish wiring and main panel wiring, etc.

It was also our first visit to the Mississippi Delta, and we made sure to visit the US 61 Blues Museum in Leyland, as well as the Kermit the Frog Birthplace museum...(Jim Henson was from Leyland!). One of the local affiliate members is from "up North", and has lived and traveled in Europe quiet a bit. He claimed there was more culture shock moving to Leyland than Moving to Germany....

We left Greenville, MS, this morning and stopped in Gadsden, AL, and tonight we have E-mail and Internet for the first time in two weeks! After the brief showers before we left, the weather just kept getting better and better...but it is following us East! We hope to get set up tomorrow night in Ashville before the haevy stuff catches up...

Jim and Cathy

our plans...

2006-03-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we move on up to Greenville, MS, to start our Habitat housebuilding project. We are looking forward to seeing that happen...

We've been discussing our future plans, and have decided we need to spend some more time in Eastern Tennessee before heading on up the Mississippi river. So after the HFH build in Greenville, it looks like we'll spend a couple of days around Memphis, then back to Bristol/Kingston/Johnston Tennessee....they call that the Tri-Cities area. That way, we can decide if that area should be on our list of places to consider stopping...without having to traipse all the way back east to decide.

After that, we are still talking about continuing up the Mississippi, including spending some time around St Louis (to see the Arch) and other assorted and varied attractions...we still have tentative plans of being in the west at the end of the summer, and going to Alaska the next summer (2007) ...

Jim and Cathy
jimandcathygreen@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~thegeekandhippie/
BLOG: http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

2006-01-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

Jim and Cathy's Christmas 2005 (Tried to update a previous post, and cant get the date back to the original! sorry...)

Well, can you believe it's been two years since we picked up roots and began traveling? We've been from the extreme North West (The Olympic Peninsula),to the South West (San Diego) and to the North East (Down-East Maine). Now it looks like we'll be going to the extreme south east the first of the year.

Currently, we are in Heiskell, Tennessee, which is essentially Knoxville. We have truly enjoyed our wandering, and have even remembered to evaluate places as settling spots when (if?) we decide its time to "Park It". Although Knoxville itself is not on our list, the general area will receive favorable consideration. There are more places on our "Been There, Done That, don't need to do it again" list than on the "Gotta go back" list, but so far there is no single "This is the Place" spot. Yet. And, we haven't been everywhere we intend to go. Such as Yellowstone (Haven't made it there yet) and a trip to Alaska. Which means we get to go back to Canada, where we spent a large part of this last summer.
So, where have we been this year? We started in New Orleans, with a visit from Josh. Then on to Carlsbad Caverns, and to Santa Fe for a spirituality conference. After a quick stop in the Farmington area to visit our stuff, we moved on to Las Vegas to horse sit, and then on to Santa Barbara for one of Cathy's classes. We then followed the coast highway up to Monterey, and a visit to the aquarium. From there it was a visit with the grand kids in the Sacramento area, then a short stop at Mount Shasta en route to Madras, Oregon, where all our mail goes. After building a patio for Jim's sister, and helping Jim's brother move from Las Vegas to Roseburg, Oregon, our friend Linda joined us for a week in the North East corner of Oregon, at Wallowa Lake. We then went on up to spend some time in Sand Point and Bonners Ferry, Idaho, for a few weeks.
Leaving Idaho, we went east to Montana and a visit to Glacier National Park. Good thing we tow our Durango behind the motor home, "The Beast" would not have been allowed over the Highway to the Sun! We enjoyed Glacier so much, we went north into Canada to visit the Canadian part, Waterton Park. That was so nice we continued up to Canmore, Alberta, which we used as a base camp for visiting Banff National Park, including Lake Louise. It was as pretty as Cathy remembered from her after high-school trip just a "few" years ago!
From there we crossed the Rocky Mountains, and spent some time at a nice little campground in Revelstoke, while visiting the Okanagan Valley, up and down the Canadian part of the Columbia River. Returning to the lower 48, we spent some time in the Spokane area, but then returned to Madras to have the cooling system on the Durango rebuilt. One new water pump, fan clutch, and radiator later, we headed down to Crater lake, which was snowed in the last time we went past. We stayed at Diamond Lake for a week, then moved on to the Roseburg area to visit with Jim's brother. From there we spent some time along the McKenzie River, then back to Madras to Park the Motorhome for a quick trip to another of Cathy's classes in Connecticut. After returning, Cathy had minor surgery on her foot to remove a carbuncle, which resulted from a spill at Crater Lake. Two weeks later, we headed for Farmington again, with the goal of reducing from two storage units to only one. Success! Thanks to the gracious assistance of Bill and Linda, who allowed us to use their yard for a moving sale, what we didn't sell was repacked into a single unit--and no trips to the dump! (Well, only one small trip...)

Leaving Farmington before it got cold (and before they finished the road work at Bill and Linda's) we traveled to the Bosque Del Apache, a bird sanctuary on the Rio Grande near Socorro, New Mexico. Since we were so close, we took the opportunity to visit the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope on the plains of Magdelena , and took the self guided walking tour. Amazing! From there we went to Alamogordo, NM, for a visit to White Sands National Monument, where Jim was able to climb the sand dune that defeated him as a child- and has a picture to prove it.
When we left Alamogordo, we went on to Livingston, Texas to visit the home park of an outfit called Escapees, a club for full time RV'ers. We were so impressed we joined, then traveled to their RV park in Tennessee-which happened to be in Knoxville, which we wanted to visit. On the way, we traveled the entire Natchez Trace Parkway, from Natchez Mississippi to Nashville, TN. We have spent a month around Knoxville, seeing the area, from the Cumberland Gap to Pigeon Forge. There are areas we like better than others, but by and large we are impressed with the area. We may even get to meet Josh's girl friend next week, she will be visiting her parents in Kentucky for Christmas, just a short drive from here!

When we leave here the first of the year, we are going to Key West. We are not running from the cold, we have connected with Habitat for Humanity, to do some clean up after hurricane Wilma. As long as we can be helpful there, we'll stay for a couple of months. We don't have any firm plans after that, except for a habitat for humanity build going on in Leyland, Mississippi, in March. Leyland is along the Mississippi River, which we intend to follow to the headwaters at Lake Itasca in Minnesota . Since our motor home is an Itasca, it kinda feels like a pilgrimage! And then, on to Alaska?

We'd like to wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous New Year. If we get near any of you this year, we'll try to stop by and visit for a while-and if you find yourselves in our neck of the woods, either accidentally or on purpose, please stop and visit!
Oh. This email address is still good (jimandcathygreen@earthlink.net), but now we have another one also! jimandcathygreen@escapees.com
We check both of them regularly!

WHere are we?

2006-01-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

For those of you we forgot to tell, we have been in the Florida Keys working with Habitat for Humanity in Hurricane recovery. Hurricane Wilma hit here in October, it was a catagory 2 but the storm surge caught everyone by surprise. It didnt make as many headlines as Katrina (Possibly because the Mayor and the Governor aren't Idiots), but it affected peoples lives just as much as Katrina. Its been said it's the first time the Gulf and the Atlantic met on land in the Keys...Aparrently the low pressure on the Atlantic side sucked the gulf waters across teh Keys....some people reported seing the shallow gulf side looking like mud flats, before it all came back across the Keys back to where it belonged. How did we end up here? We were looking for a way to help, but didnt want to just show up somewhere and be in the Way. The habitat for Humanity web page showed an ongoing opportunity here in the Keys, and when we contacted them they said 'Come on Down! Turns out this HfH office has been doing disaster recovery since Hurricane George in 1998. Their resale store is actually in a county building, and they hosted FEMA, the SBA, and other disaster recovery agencies, which provided a kind of "One Stop Shopping" for the local folks. THere are 25 or so RV's, ranging from a 15 ft A-Frame pop-up to a 45 ft custom motor home with a 30ft trailer equipped with a portable workshop on site at the Habitat building. Not the most fancy accomodations we have enjoyed in 2 years, but all our neighbors are great people and fun to be around.

Things are going OK here, we are getting a lot of stuff done for folks who cant do it for themselves. A typical job is to pull out the drywall to above the floodline, (usually about 4 ft), remove anything in the walls, let it dry out, spray for mould, then re-drywall and finish. Oh, yeah, any electrical device that was underwater ususally has to be replaced. this often means redoing at least part of the system, since to repair it requires bringing it to current code standards. Some of the stuff we are looking at probably(!) wasn't done by an electrician in the first place, so there are some interesting challenges!

Most of the folks we are helping would be good candidates for the home makeover show. One has terminal cancer and cant get to the upstairs living area that was undamaged; one is a widowed lady barely able to hang on to her property, with the taxes getting so high, one is a disabled gentleman who keeps trying to get us down the street to help his friends who "need it worse than I do!" Of course, there are some who made it into the system who could probably do it without our help, but we have adapted a quote from the Crusades..."God will recognize his own". We just do our best to make it nicer than when we got there...

The weather here has been warm and humid, ranging from highs of mid 70's with 80% and better humidity to low 60's. Its funny when it gets down to the 60's, you can tell right away who the locals are! They dont all wear Parkas, but there is an amusing assortment of coats/jackets/sweaters that come out when it cools off! all the snowbirds continue with shorts and windbreakers!

Looks like we will be leaving here the first of the month We'll be working our way to the north, to be in Leyland, MS, early March for a Habitat build. Folks who are here who have done both keep telling us it's totally different at a build than in Disaster recovery, so we are looking forward to seeing how that goes.

Not sure where we will be spending the summer, but long term thinking (not firm enough to be called Plans at this point!) have us following the Mississippi River to the headwaters this spring, then working our way back to the west. We have thought about Alaska this summer, but are watching gas prices before we make a decision. We still plan on getting to Yellowstone one day!

Jim and Cathy
jimandcathygreen@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~thegeekandhippie/
BLOG: http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

Habitat work

2006-01-10T19:15:00.000-07:00

We are keeping busy here! I did electrical work today (Have any idea what salt water does to thin walled metallic conduit?) but it looks like I get to head a crew to do some floor work tomorrow. I know living in the Keys sounds exotic and like everyone should be rich, but there are lots of elderly or handicapped on a fixed income, who were here long before it became a vacation paradise, who are living on the fringes and about to go under. Yesterday we were doing drywall at a house for an older man who is getting Chemo, and can no longer make it to the upstairs living area, but his downstairs room had 4 ft of water during the Hurricane and the drywall had to come out up to that level. It may not be much in the scheme of things down here, but it does feel like we are making a difference in some people's lives, anyway.

Here we are...

2006-01-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

We have just arrived in the Florida Keys, to help Habitat for Humanity with Hurricane Wilma cleanup. Got here at noon, and already have put in a full days work! They were wiring some power stands for RV's, so we jumped in and helped out, so now we have power for our stay! Looks like there is lots of things to do, so we wont be bored waiting around for something to do. We are actually at Long Pine Key, about 30 Miles from Key West, and the closer we got, the more and more evidence of storm damage we saw. Aparrently the tidal surge reached over 9 ft in some parts of this Key, and things were pretty well messed up. We told them we would work at least a month, possible up to the end of Feburary, but we have signed up for a Habitat for Humanity build project in Leyland, Mississippi, in early March. That just happens to be on the way for our next adventure: Following the Mississippi River to its source, at Lake Itasca, MN. That is, unless we get a better idea first....

Jim and Cathy
jimandcathygreen@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~thegeekandhippie/
BLOG: http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

FW: Our year in review

2005-12-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

Jim and Cathy�s Christmas 2005�

Well, can you believe it�s been two years since we picked up roots and began traveling? We�ve been from the extreme North West (The Olympic Peninsula),to the South West (San Diego) and to the North East (Down-East Maine). Now it looks like we�ll be going to the extreme south east the first of the year.

Currently, we are in Heiskell, Tennessee, which is essentially Knoxville. We have truly enjoyed our wandering, and have even remembered to evaluate places as settling spots when (if?) we decide its time to �Park It�. Although Knoxville itself is not on our list, the general area will receive favorable consideration. There are more places on our �Been There, Done That, don�t need to do it again� list than on the �Gotta go back� list, but so far there is no single �This is the Place� spot. Yet. And, we haven�t been everywhere we intend to go. Such as Yellowstone (Haven�t made it there yet) and a trip to Alaska. Which means we get to go back to Canada�where we spent a large part of this last summer.

So, where have we been this year? We started in New Orleans, with a visit from Josh. Then on to Carlsbad Caverns, and to Santa Fe for a spirituality conference. After a quick stop in the Farmington area to visit our stuff, we moved on to Las Vegas to horse sit, and then on to Santa Barbara for one of Cathy�s classes. We then followed the coast highway up to Monterey, and a visit to the aquarium. From there it was a visit with the grand kids in the Sacramento area, then a short stop at Mount Shasta en route to Madras, Oregon, where all our mail goes. After building a patio for Jim�s sister, and helping Jim�s brother move from Las Vegas to Roseburg, Oregon, our friend Linda joined us for a week in the North East corner of Oregon, at Wallowa Lake. We then went on up to spend some time in Sand Point and Bonners Ferry, Idaho, for a few weeks.

Leaving Idaho, we went east to Montana and a visit to Glacier National Park. Good thing we tow our Durango behind the motor home, �The Beast� would not have been allowed over the Highway to the Sun! We enjoyed Glacier so much, we went north into Canada to visit the Canadian part, Waterton Park. That was so nice we continued up to Canmore, Alberta, which we used as a base camp for visiting Banff National Park, including Lake Louise. It was as pretty as Cathy remembered from her after high-school trip just a �few� years ago�

From there we crossed the Rocky Mountains, and spent some time at a nice little campground in Revelstoke, while visiting the Okanagan Valley, up and down the Canadian part of the Columbia River. Returning to the lower 48, we spent some time in the Spokane area, but then returned to Madras to have the cooling system on the Durango rebuilt. One new water pump, fan clutch, and radiator later, we headed down to Crater lake, which was snowed in the last time we went past. We stayed at Diamond Lake for a week, then moved on to the Roseburg area to visit with Jim�s brother. From there we spent some time along the McKenzie River, then back to Madras to Park the Motorhome for a quick trip to another of Cathy�s classes in Connecticut. After returning, Cathy had minor surgery on her foot to remove a carbuncle, which resulted from a spill at Crater Lake. Two weeks later, we headed for Farmington again, with the goal of reducing from two storage units to only one. Success! Thanks to the gracious assistance of Bill and Linda, who allowed us to use their yard for a moving sale, what we didn�t sell was repacked into a single unit�and no trips to the dump!

Leaving Farmington before it got cold (and before they finished the road work at Bill and Linda�s) we traveled to the Bosque Del Apache, a bird sanctuary on the Rio Grande near Socorro, New Mexico. Since we were so close, we took the opportunity to visit the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope on the plains of Magdelena , and took the self guided walking tour. Amazing! From there we went to Alamogordo, NM, for a visit to White Sands National Monument, where Jim was able to climb the sand dune that defeated him as a child�and has a picture to prove it.

When we left Alamogordo, we went on to Livingston, Texas to visit the home park of an outfit called Escapees, a club for full time RV�ers. We were so impressed we joined, then traveled to their RV park in Tennessee�which happened to be in Knoxville, which we wanted to visit. On the way, we traveled the entire Natchez Trace Parkway, from Natchez Mississippi to Nashville, TN. We have spent a month around Knoxville, seeing the area, from the Cumberland Gap to Pigeon Forge. There are areas we like better than others, but by and large we are impressed with the area. We may even get to meet Josh�s girl friend next week, she will be visiting her parents in Kentucky for Christmas, just a short drive from here!

When we leave here the first of the year, we are going to Key West. We are not running from the cold, we have connected with Habitat for Humanity, to do some clean up after hurricane Wilma. As long as we can be helpful there, we�ll stay for a couple of months. We don�t have any firm plans after that, except for a habitat for humanity build going on in Leyland, Mississippi, in March. Leyland is along the Mississippi River, which we intend to follow to the headwaters at Lake Itasca in Minnesota . Since our motor home is an Itasca, it kinda feels like a pilgrimage! And then, on to Alaska?

We�d like to wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous New Year. If we get near any of you this year, we�ll try to stop by and visit for a while�and if you find yourselves in our neck of the woods, either accidentally or on purpose, please stop and visit!

Oh�.this email address is still good (jimandcathygreen@earthlink.net), but now we have another one also! jimandcathygreen@escapees.com
We check both of them regularly�

2005-08-17T11:15:00.000-06:00

Newest update: Just passed our Phone Interview, so we have been invited to El Paso for "Wagonmaster" training on 7 Janurary. Watch this space for more information!

update from the Oregon Mountains...

2005-08-16T22:09:00.000-06:00

Well, after 10 days in Myrtle Creek with marginal Internet service, we have moved on to the mountains in the McKenzie Valley in oregon (Just west of Sisters...), and believe it or not we actually have better cell phone service in the middle of nowhere, so we can get to the internet easier...hence, the update. For some reason I couldnt get Earthlink to recognize my regular network card, so I had to use web mail, and not download to the computer and process offline. AH, well.

Dont know if we are going to be here for one week or two, but our next scheduled event is to be in Madras, Oregon for Labor Day, then drive to Portland for a flight to Connecticut. Cathy will be doing her last class out there, then we will return to Portland and meet up with our rolling home again. After recouperating from the flight, we intend to make our way back to Farmington, and go through our storage unit, trying to weed things out and get down to one unit. I guess if we havent used it in two years, we probabally dont really need it, but we are emotionally attached to some things we need to hold on too...but probabally dont need two storage units worth. Anyone want to be notified of a yard sale, per chance?

Depending on the weather, and how late we actually head that direction, we may go by way of Yellowstone Park, then visit friends in Montrose, Colorado on the way...

We are currently looking into an opportunity to lead RV caravans as a way to keep us out of mischief next year, with any luck we'll be semi-employed again by the first of the year. Still have a few phone interviews and if we are accepted, then some training to accomplish, but we are excited by the possibilities!

Jim and Cathy

Crater Lake...

2005-08-16T14:58:00.000-06:00

Well, we fianally got the car problems sorted out. A new radiator, after the water pump, thermostat, idler pully, and Fan didnt solve the overheating issue. Cant complain too loud, since we have 142,000 miles on it now, and only been in the shop twice....(Both times since the first of the year!). Still beats a car payment...

So after we test drove the car over to John Day, Oregon, in 100 degree weather to attend the Solar Fair, where I ran into two guys from the renewable energy program at San Juan College, we decided to head for the hills where it is a bit cooler. So we moved down to Crater Lake (Oregon's ONLY national park...) and are luxuriating in the cool air. It was 42 last night, good sleeping weather! Ahhhhhhh! Next week it's over to Roseburg, to check in with my brother, who I helped to move there from Las Vegas (The Nevada one, not the New Mexico one..) in May. Seems he is not missing the 3 digit temperatures this summer....

Jim and Cathy
jimandcathygreen@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~thegeekandhippie/
BLOG: http://thegeekandhippie.blogspot.com/

2005-07-27T08:43:00.000-06:00

Back in Oregon....
After having the water pump and fan replaced on the Durango, it was still overheating so we towed it back to Madras where we can bum a car from my sister while having it fixed. It goes in for a radiator today, and if that doesnt fianally fix the problem, I am not sure what the next step it going to be!

We spent a week around Spokane, which seemed nice enough but we didnt get out and about too much with the overheating problem on the car. We are planning on eventually going back and spending some time in the mountains north of there, near Colville. Not sure when that will be, however...

We still havent decided where too next, but we wont be sticking around the high desert here too long after getting the car fixed and other chores done...The company is good, but if we wanted to be in the High Desert in the summer, we could have stayed in Farmington!

Movin' on...

2005-07-16T09:53:00.000-06:00

We have just spent another week in Bonners Ferry, this time looking for a home or a place to build, and have concluded that if this is the place we are going to end up, it's not going to happen right now. Which might just mean we won't end up here; the "Resort" market has spread up from Coeur d'Alene through Sand Point and is inflating prices all the way up here. Weather wise its pretty moderate here, this week while "Back Home" has been in the 100's, the high here has been upper 80's, with a nice breeze. Cathy was talking to one lady who said the winters have become warmer also; There were only two days last winter that were below zero; it usually didnt get below 20 degrees! Of course, that means its drier than normal also, not as much snow as they used to get (I think 67 inches is normal!)

So now, after replacing a water pump and fan on the Durango, and spending a few hours digging gravel out of the condenser coils for the car air conditioner (never would have guessed I'd become a dentist for a radiator!) , we are ready to move on. Monday we are on our way again, this time to Fairchild Airforce Base in Spokane for a bit, and we are looking at spending a Day at the Solar Fair in John Day, Oregon, at the end of the month. Long term looks like a return to Farmington in later September to consolidate the storage units, getting down to one unit, while digging some things out we would like to have with us and storing away some things we dont use often. We're still considering wintering over on Whidby Island...but it might just be by way of the Coast Highway in Northern California and Southern Oregon.

Jim and Cathy
first part of the journey is recorded at
http://home.earthlink.net/~thegeekandhippie/

2005-07-09T17:51:00.000-06:00

We’re at the entrance to Glacier National Park, Listening to Prairie Home Companion on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, and enjoying the light rain that is falling, while we are making plans to return to the Bonners Ferry/Sand Point, ID, area. We’re thinking that may be the place to alight after our travels, so we’re going to look at real estate for a bit, while we experience the summer weather. And make plans for getting the car fixed. Seems the Antifreeze doesn’t like staying on the inside. I am guessing a water pump, since we have over 140,000 miles on it, but we’ll be taking it to the Dodge dealer in Bonners Ferry to see what they have to say. Good thing we don’t have to drive it to get it there…we’ll be heading there on Monday Morning. So stay tuned for further developments…

2005-07-06T22:16:00.000-06:00

Well, we are back where we can afford to use our cell phones. After a month of wandering in the Canadian Rockies, we are back in Kalispel, MT, for a couple of days before heading over to Browning, MT, for a Pow WoW. We are thinking of staying in or near the northern mountains for the rest of the summer!

2005-07-04T22:31:00.000-06:00

Hey from Canada...we have been around Revelstoke about 10 Days now, and tomorrow we are heading back to Montanna. There is a Pow Wow we want to go to...then it will probabaly be down to Butte and then Yellowstone, then back to Idaho for a bit.We are expecting to get back to Madras, Oregon mid-to- late Aug.

We are staying in a neat little campground (The Lamplighter) that is walking distance to down town, (about 1 1/2 miles....) and have spent the time seeing Canada's glacier national Park and Mount Revelstoke National Park. Also took a short drive over to Sicamouse, just to find out what that name is all about! Thought it might have something to do with a long winter and nothing but Moose meat, but that wasn't it. Along the way, we stopped at Canada's equilivent of Prometory Point, where the Canadian Pacific drive the final spike. Not being as prentious as their southern neighbors, they used a regular steel spike...but there is a nice park...

2005-07-01T16:56:00.000-06:00

Canada is great!

2005-07-01T16:54:00.000-06:00

Our new home, Jan 2004

2005-07-01T16:14:00.000-06:00

With this posting, I will begin to try to keep our friends and family updated a little better about our travels...after starting our website last year, it became more difficult to keep update when we didnt have a decent connection, and so we got out of the habit of keeping things up to date. Perhaps with this Blogger format, I will be more diligent it keeping it updated...

Anyway, for those who are interested, our original web site is on an earthlink site,
thegeekandhippie.

Not many pictures there, I will try to be better at posting pictures here. Wonder how much space I can have for free...

Anyway, I will try to bring everything up to date from last year, and keep it better updated. Our goal is once a week, and that should be achievable. Especially if we can find WIFI RV spots. Of course, once we are back in the states, when I have Verizon Home digital service, it will be easy, and that is pretty common in the North West, where we plan to be for a while.

Currently, we are in Revelstoke, British Columbia, visiting the Candian Rockies and watching them celebrate Canada Day. So far, no fireworks, which may be appropriate since it didnt take a revolution to create Canada, but we'll see this evening...